Twins Minor League Hitter Of The Month - July 2017

August is upon us. That means that we are now entering (basically) the final month of the minor league season. Most of the minor league season is complete on Labor Day with playoffs starting soon after. The Dog Days are here, but that doesn’t mean that there weren’t a lot of solid hitting performances in the system in July. As you’ve noticed, ,the Elizabethton Twins have been a very hot offense. A couple of Red Wings had strong months are are making their cases to be called up. With the short-season teams having a full month, there are a lot more candidates, so grab some coffee and enjoy.

Park turned 31 years old in July, and he put together ae solid month. An injury slowed him in the early season, but he’s been hitting well since mid-June. In July, he started to show some of the power that made him legendary in Korea. Signed through 2019, with an option for 2020, the Twins will likely give him another shot at some point. Until then, it’s just good to see him healthy and starting to hit well again in Rochester.

In 2016, the Twins had four of the first 74 draft picks. With their first of two compensation picks (following the second round), they selected infielder Jose Miranda out of the Leadership Christian Academy in Puerto Rico. Miranda just turned 19 at the end of June. He’s been one (of several) really good hitters in the middle of the E-Town lineup. He’s shown a good approach at the plate, but he hits the ball with authority often. Of his 23 games played in the field so far this season, he’s played second base in 22 of them, with one start at third base. He’s also DHd a bit.

These are things I’ve written several times throughout the season and particularly the last couple of weeks. “It is inexcusable that Mitch Garver is not in the big leagues.” “Mitch Garver is the best all-around catcher in the Twins organization, including the two catchers with the Twins.” Overall this season, he is hitting .267/.370/.509 (.879) with 22 doubles and 15 home runs. He’s also thrown out 30% of would-be base stealers. He turned 26 in January. My assumption is that Chris Gimenez will either be traded or DFAd sometime in August to get Mitch Garver to the big leagues. If not, he should be up on September 1st. It just shouldn’t have taken that long.

He was drafted by the Rangers out of high school in 2014. He went to Maryland where he red-shirted before playing one season there. He transferred to Chipola College where he was part of a tremendous junior college team. The Twins took him in the fifth round. After signing (above slot), he went to Elizabethton. He went 0-7 his first two games. Since then, he has hit .403/.481/.627 (1.108).

Carrier was the Twins 8th round pick in 2016 out of Fullerton College. He signed, forgoing a scholarship offer at Cal St. Fullerton. He spent last summer in Elizabethton. He began this season in Cedar Rapids, but through 30 games, he was hitting just .215/.243/.299 (.542), so he went down to extended spring training. It’s paid off. He has been destroying the ball in the Appy League to the tune of a .341/.353/.535 (.888) rate with ten doubles and five home runs. Carrier is strong and has a ton of power potential that he is just tapping into.

The Twins signed Jonathan Rodriguez as a six-year minor league free agent this past offseason. The Puerto Rico native went to the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota and was the 17th round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2009.

Rodriguez gradually worked his way up the Cardinals system. He got to AA in 2014, but he stayed there until 2016 when he played in 39 AAA games. The Twins were quick to sign him and he’s been a mainstay in the Chattanooga lineup all season. With the Cardinals organization, he mostly played corner outfield positions. With the Lookouts, he’s only played first base and DH so far. That makes sense for the 27-year-old who stands 6-2 and weighs in at 250 pounds. He will turn 28 in just a couple of weeks.

In 94 games with the Lookouts this year, he has hit .317/.413/.516 (.928) with 24 doubles and 15 home runs. His July was tremendous. He had two four-hit games, four three-hit games and eight two-hit games during the month. He was an extra-base hit machine, with 13 doubles and six home runs.

He was named the Southern League Player of the Month as well.

With Byungho Park and Kennys Vargas, along with Matt Hague, at AAA, Rodriguez is likely to spend the full season with the Lookouts.

Congratulations to the July Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Month for 2017, Chattanooga Lookouts Jonathan Rodriguez.

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20 Comments

So let me see if I've got this straight. The six best hitters are 31, 29, and 26 or playing in a league that is advanced rookie ball for the Twins but the equivalent of the GCL for a number of the other teams. (Hey, why do you think the Twins win the Appy so often?)

twinstalker raises an interesting question, Seth. With the new guys in charge, have you heard any talk of them making any changes in where the minor league teams are or what leagues they are in? Any talk of adding a short season Class A team?

Truthfully, I'm not sure the question is fair or accurate, as none of the top (older) hitters whose ages are mentioned are playing in advanced rookie ball. I'd also note that the Appy league is advance rookie, so it's not equivalent to the GCL... for any team.As for the older hitters:

Rodriguez is org filler and has never really been a prospect (at least not for the Twins). There's no one at a lower level ready to take his place. Every org has those types, and he's having a good month. No big deal. He's old enough that he could potentially move to AAA, but given his age, he's filler, not priority.

Park was an old regime international bid. He never spent time in the minors or the US until last year. He never played in the rookie leagues. He's in AAA in large part b/c he failed in MLB last year, and he was jettisoned from the 40 man. That is cleaning house. He's doing fine in AAA, but he's also under contract. It's encouraging to see him hitting well given the org needs, as I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a call yet this summer due to Vargas not taking the job despite getting every opportunity to do so.You can certainly question the old regime's decision to add this talent, but he's a hold over from there without question. I'm not sure where he ends up bodes well or not well for the org. they can go out and sign a DH type if they are convinced Park can't be an option. Those are cheap.

Garver is the only real prospect listed that's older. He was drafted at 22 in the 9th round, hardly a sure thing. He's also a catcher, and they tend to take longer (again, this is normal across baseball). His hit tool his really come on the last couple years, so he may be a late bloomer, but he also had a lot more question marks at the beginning of the season than more recently. He hasn't destroyed the minors in every stop though, and that's an important thing to note. He has, however, been very good with the bat the last two seasons. It's his glove though that is slowing his move up. He has a reputation for being a decent defender, but there's a lot more defensively to catching than there is elsewhere.

On to the younger guys, Bechtold was drafted this year (5th round, so not a huge prospect) and placed in the advanced rookie league. Again, this is normal for a lot of teams. He's probably the closest guy to the original point. He's doing quite well while basically being 2 months older than league average for the Appy. I wouldn't call a 5th round pick much in terms of a prospect, but he will without question play low A next year and if he hits the MWL well, he'll be the first up to the FSL.Carrier is in the same boat except that he was drafted last year (8th round) . Note that Carrier was nothing special last year in the Appy (.755 OPS) and that he got demoted b/c he did poorly in low A this year. He's not much of a prospect, but he's definitely doing well in low A.

As for playing old guys in rookie leagues, again, everyone does it. The average age in those leagues is around 20 for the GCL and 21 for the Appy. Our better prospects (Miranda, Badoo, Kirilloff, Enlow, etc) are all younger than those leagues, but college guys end up going there too, which skews the age, and again, all of baseball does this. If anything, looking at who is doing really well in these leagues, it says a lot for the long term pipeline as we have a bunch of 18 and 19 year old players doing very well in those short season rookie leagues. Those are the real prospects with high ceilings, and right now, we have a lot of them. You won't see many on the top 100 this year, but if they continue to do what they've done at higher levels, they will get noticed. I would also note that the HMs have quite a few prospects there who are doing well while being younger than their leagues. You won't find a ton of huge standouts in that category though on most any team. We have some (Royce Lewis for instance or Kirilloff last year), and those guys tend to be the ones you find in your top 100. But with guys like Badoo, it's just encouraging that they are out performing a league that they are younger than.

twinstalker raises an interesting question, Seth. With the new guys in charge, have you heard any talk of them making any changes in where the minor league teams are or what leagues they are in? Any talk of adding a short season Class A team?

Hadn't thought about this until reading the above comment. Have you?

I haven't heard any thought of adding another short-season rookie league team.

I guess they could slow the development of players by adding a level, or add more players to push into Cedar Rapids the next year.

I think they're fine... High school players and most guys from the DSL go to the GCL.

Guys who played in the GCL and didn't get to Cedar Rapids, and college guys go to E-Town.

They've already sent four college draft guys up to higher levels (Rooker to FM, Barnes, Sammons and Gore to CR). But for the most part, rookie leagues are an introduction pro ball.

I don't know if the Twins and Elizabethton have resolved their issues, but it's possible the Twins could leave there and maybe go to the NYPL or something similar. I'm not convinced there's much benefit in that for the organization.

As for playing old guys in rookie leagues, again, everyone does it. The average age in those leagues is around 20 for the GCL and 21 for the Appy. Our better prospects (Miranda, Badoo, Kirilloff, Enlow, etc) are all younger than those leagues, but college guys end up going there too, which skews the age, and again, all of baseball does this. If anything, looking at who is doing really well in these leagues, it says a lot for the long term pipeline as we have a bunch of 18 and 19 year old players doing very well in those short season rookie leagues. Those are the real prospects with high ceilings, and right now, we have a lot of them. You won't see many on the top 100 this year, but if they continue to do what they've done at higher levels, they will get noticed. I would also note that the HMs have quite a few prospects there who are doing well while being younger than their leagues. You won't find a ton of huge standouts in that category though on most any team. We have some (Royce Lewis for instance or Kirilloff last year), and those guys tend to be the ones you find in your top 100. But with guys like Badoo, it's just encouraging that they are out performing a league that they are younger than.

This is the key point. Miranda and Javier and Baddoo are the "prospects" in ET with their youth. Ynoa was young.

And, again, college guys need to play somewhere, and they're not going to bump them straight to CR. That's the case for adding a level above the Appy League.

But again... there are still the same numbers in Cedar Rapids. So adding a NYPL-like team only means more guys in Extended Spring Training. For instance, I think Royce Lewis and Blayne Enlow probably jump to CR next year from the GCL. If you want another level for them to go through, they could get a more advanced rookie league, short-season team. But that may be where they would send those two, and maybe Miranda and Javier and others that otherwise would be in CR. And maybe that would be good for some of them. Maybe Ben Rortvedt would have been better served by staying in EST for 2 1/2 months and wait for that league to start instead of jumping up to the Kernels right away.

Nice list, Seth, and nice comment diehard. While maybe confusing to some, I appreciate these articles because they help me reconcile what I am seeing in boxscores with what I see on prospect lists. It's nice to recognize Rodriguez's accomplishments, and at the same time get the context of who he is (or isn't) prospect wise.

Truthfully, I'm not sure the question is fair or accurate, as none of the top (older) hitters whose ages are mentioned are playing in advanced rookie ball. I'd also note that the Appy league is advance rookie, so it's not equivalent to the GCL... for any team.As for the older hitters:

Rodriguez is org filler and has never really been a prospect (at least not for the Twins). There's no one at a lower level ready to take his place. Every org has those types, and he's having a good month. No big deal. He's old enough that he could potentially move to AAA, but given his age, he's filler, not priority.

Park was an old regime international bid. He never spent time in the minors or the US until last year. He never played in the rookie leagues. He's in AAA in large part b/c he failed in MLB last year, and he was jettisoned from the 40 man. That is cleaning house. He's doing fine in AAA, but he's also under contract. It's encouraging to see him hitting well given the org needs, as I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a call yet this summer due to Vargas not taking the job despite getting every opportunity to do so.You can certainly question the old regime's decision to add this talent, but he's a hold over from there without question. I'm not sure where he ends up bodes well or not well for the org. they can go out and sign a DH type if they are convinced Park can't be an option. Those are cheap.

Garver is the only real prospect listed that's older. He was drafted at 22 in the 9th round, hardly a sure thing. He's also a catcher, and they tend to take longer (again, this is normal across baseball). His hit tool his really come on the last couple years, so he may be a late bloomer, but he also had a lot more question marks at the beginning of the season than more recently. He hasn't destroyed the minors in every stop though, and that's an important thing to note. He has, however, been very good with the bat the last two seasons. It's his glove though that is slowing his move up. He has a reputation for being a decent defender, but there's a lot more defensively to catching than there is elsewhere.

On to the younger guys, Bechtold was drafted this year (5th round, so not a huge prospect) and placed in the advanced rookie league. Again, this is normal for a lot of teams. He's probably the closest guy to the original point. He's doing quite well while basically being 2 months older than league average for the Appy. I wouldn't call a 5th round pick much in terms of a prospect, but he will without question play low A next year and if he hits the MWL well, he'll be the first up to the FSL.Carrier is in the same boat except that he was drafted last year (8th round) . Note that Carrier was nothing special last year in the Appy (.755 OPS) and that he got demoted b/c he did poorly in low A this year. He's not much of a prospect, but he's definitely doing well in low A.

As for playing old guys in rookie leagues, again, everyone does it. The average age in those leagues is around 20 for the GCL and 21 for the Appy. Our better prospects (Miranda, Badoo, Kirilloff, Enlow, etc) are all younger than those leagues, but college guys end up going there too, which skews the age, and again, all of baseball does this. If anything, looking at who is doing really well in these leagues, it says a lot for the long term pipeline as we have a bunch of 18 and 19 year old players doing very well in those short season rookie leagues. Those are the real prospects with high ceilings, and right now, we have a lot of them. You won't see many on the top 100 this year, but if they continue to do what they've done at higher levels, they will get noticed. I would also note that the HMs have quite a few prospects there who are doing well while being younger than their leagues. You won't find a ton of huge standouts in that category though on most any team. We have some (Royce Lewis for instance or Kirilloff last year), and those guys tend to be the ones you find in your top 100. But with guys like Badoo, it's just encouraging that they are out performing a league that they are younger than.

So let me see if I've got this straight. The six best hitters are 31, 29, and 26 or playing in a league that is advanced rookie ball for the Twins but the equivalent of the GCL for a number of the other teams. (Hey, why do you think the Twins win the Appy so often?)

This bodes badly for the organization.

I'm happy that Garver had a good month in AAA. Hard to be upset that the Twins have a catcher ready to move to MLB. That's how prospects are supposed to progress.

I'm also not concerned that a couple of non-prospects had great months. Congratulations to Park and Rodriguez - they deserve their rankings because they raked.

All of the healthy MLB Top 30 hitting prospects are showing progress except for Rortvedt, who's a 19 year-old catcher in a league where the average player is 21. You could argue that Blankenhorn has some work to do but he's shown some power and patience. Palacios could've been on the HM list this month after advancing to A+.

The young prospects are showing promise. The list shows Badoo, Miranda, Javier and Lewis all doing well as teenagers. Gore and Rooker have moved up after less than 100 AB and Bechtold should follow if there is room at Cedar Rapids. I think this group's performance bodes well for the Twins.

We'd all like the Twins to have a couple more hitters at AA and AAA who are top-100 prospects. But the stats for the players who are in the organization look pretty good.

What I meant to say was that it is clear by looking at the Appy league we have the most talent in baseball. How else would you explain six championships since 2000?

First off, all the "prospects" in any league are younger than the league. That's a large part of what makes them prospects. It's usually by about 2-2.5 years in rookie ball unless a college guy goes there first for a little wooden bat seasoning.

Second, last time I looked, about half the teams in the Appy had a short season league in between it and the low A ball affiliate.

My point was Elizabethton beats up on rookie league pitching. And that the best hitters this month includes those very guys plus two guys who are not really prospects at all and one who's going to be 27 by the time he ever takes a team-meaningful AB for the Twins. That is, three guys going against inferior pitching and three guys who have the distinct look of AAAA.

It doesn't matter that a couple of non-prospects had a good July. What matters is that the prospects are all making progress. And they are. It isn't just the college ballplayers that are having a good start, it's the teenagers as well. Seth could've moved Badoo, Lewis and Javier ahead of Park on the list. What would "not bode well" is if these guys were scuffling at their respective levels.

RE: Prospects being 2-2.5 years younger than league average...

The average age in Appy is 20.3. The teenagers are doing fine.

MWL - Average age is 21.2. There are only three teenage hitters in the top 50. Palacios is 20 and was ranked 11th before moving up to FTM. Diaz, Blankenhorn and Whitefield are all 20 and only slightly above average. Maybe that doesn't bode well but I'm at least going to give the softball player some credit. (16 teams in the league means only 1 out of 5 teams has a teenager in the top 50)

FSL - Average age is 22.8. There are only three hitters 20 or younger in the top 50 (WRC+, 50 PA). Definitely a lack of Twins hitting prospects except for Palacios. Rooker is scuffling but he's entering his 2nd month of pro ball.(12 teams, only 1 out of 4 teams have a "prospect")

Southern - Average age is 24.1. There are 5 hitters 21 or younger in the top 50, including Gordon. Another 5 are 22. Wade is 23 years old and in the top 50. He's in his 2nd full season of pro ball. I consider him a "prospect" but he's no sure bet. (10 teams, 10 players 22 or younger on the list)

As I said, I think the players that are in the system "look pretty good" considering how few players actually meet your 2-2.5 year threshold for prospects.

Falvey and Levine have just one draft behind them. Much of the concern over "old prospects" is from the TR days. Hopefully this year's draft will be the first of many that, in the future, will be looked upon as adept.

What I meant to say was that it is clear by looking at the Appy league we have the most talent in baseball. How else would you explain six championships since 2000?

First off, all the "prospects" in any league are younger than the league. That's a large part of what makes them prospects. It's usually by about 2-2.5 years in rookie ball unless a college guy goes there first for a little wooden bat seasoning.

Second, last time I looked, about half the teams in the Appy had a short season league in between it and the low A ball affiliate.

My point was Elizabethton beats up on rookie league pitching. And that the best hitters this month includes those very guys plus two guys who are not really prospects at all and one who's going to be 27 by the time he ever takes a team-meaningful AB for the Twins. That is, three guys going against inferior pitching and three guys who have the distinct look of AAAA.

Again, I'm not sure the point of concern. We want them to win. We want them to enjoy that and value it. I would also note that a lot ETown's contributors are coming from prospects such as Badoo, Miranda, and Javier. You sited Carrier, and I see your point, except that they did try him in Low A. He failed, so he's back down. He will likely get another low A look later this year or next year, and if he keeps failing, he will get released. That's how this works, and with a guy like Carrier not being a top pick, it's largely to be expected.

twinstalker raises an interesting question, Seth. With the new guys in charge, have you heard any talk of them making any changes in where the minor league teams are or what leagues they are in? Any talk of adding a short season Class A team?

Hadn't thought about this until reading the above comment. Have you?

I've honestly always considered the Appalachian League (advanced "rookie") and the Short-Season A-Leagues to be the same thing. I'm not going to look it up, but I'd venture there aren't many teams that have affiliates in both. I know the Yankees do, but they have 8 affiliates total (9 if you include the DSL), which is 2 more full teams of prospects than the Twins and it's obvious it's a budget thing there.

So let me see if I've got this straight. The six best hitters are 31, 29, and 26 or playing in a league that is advanced rookie ball for the Twins but the equivalent of the GCL for a number of the other teams. (Hey, why do you think the Twins win the Appy so often?)

This bodes badly for the organization.

It's funny how differently we can look at things. I don't think you've got this straight at all, twinstaker. This report bodes exceptionally well for the organization.

In the entire minor league system, Seth looks at a single month of activity and points to 14 prospects who happened to excel during the month. Half of them are very exciting prospects. Akil Badoo, Wander Javier, and LaMont Wade, for example, have all been mentioned as borderline Top 100 prospects by various professional evaluators. People on TD have been clamoring for Mitch Garver to get his shot. Others have wondered why we're not talking a lot more about Jose Miranda and Andrew Bechtold. And then you have the one first-rounder among them, Royce Lewis, who is looking to be everything we expected. Oh, and most of these guys are young for their age at their current level. So I'm not sure why anyone's eyes would focus instead on a couple of older non-prospects and then once again promote the fallacy that the Twins are loading their Appy League roster with older guys while the rest of the league does something different.

A couple of years ago, I fact-checked this. IIRC, there were about an equal number of years, looking back year by year, that ETown had a roster that was younger than league average rather than older. Anyone who chose to look at it objectively could clearly see that it was a function of what the evaluators decided made more sense during that year's draft, and in some years, we saw a larger influx of college players selected. I even spot checked a dozen games, looking at the starters for each team for that game, looking at age, draft order, and IP's. In that short stretch of games, during that year, I found that the ETown starter was more often younger, a later draft choice, and with fewer innings under his belt than his opponent. This might change year to year. But I call BS on this narrative that ETown only wins because it loads the system with college guys and that they play against a bunch of pimply-faced high-schoolers.

All of the healthy MLB Top 30 hitting prospects are showing progress except for Rortvedt, who's a 19 year-old catcher in a league where the average player is 21.

In addition to noting his age, it's also well to consider that Rortvedt's stats include a horrendous start to the season. The numbers all count, of course, but when evaluating a prospect I think you want to check whether he's moving in the right direction. Since mid-May, he's posted a very presentable .267 BA with a little bit of pop and selectivity, leading to an OPS just north of .700. He's not tearing the cover off the ball, but a promotion next year to high-A would not surprise me. He's been pushed because of good reviews behind the plate, I'm pretty certain.

Maybe Ben Rortvedt would have been better served by staying in EST for 2 1/2 months and wait for that league to start instead of jumping up to the Kernels right away.

The way he flailed around in April was not pretty. But it's debatable, given how he's going now, whether he would have been better served by hitting, say, .300 at E-town.